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Trump Pauses Planned 50 Percent Tariffs on Canadian Goods; Prince Harry and Meghan Plans to Return to the United Kingdom After Six Years. Aired 3-4a ET

Aired August 20, 2026 - 03:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[03:00:07]

POLO SANDOVAL, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT: Hi everybody, I'm Polo Sandoval, live in New York, and this is "CNN Newsroom."

President Trump says that he's turning up the heats on Iran, promising a crushing economic operation.

Plus, it looks like Canada will avoid President Trump's 50 percent tariffs, at least for now. I'll tell you more.

And after years of looking abroad, hear why Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are headed back to the U.K.

UNKNOWN (voice-over): Live from New York, this is "CNN Newsroom" with Polo Sandoval.

SANDOVAL: And we're going to have more on all those stories in just a moment, but first, it was yet another deadly Russian night of attacks on Ukraine's capital.

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It's absolutely heartbreaking scenes from Kyiv just a few hours ago, as this elderly woman mourns the loss of a grandson who was killed in that latest round of strikes. And officials are saying that 12 people died in the barrage of missile attacks overnight, and more than two dozen were wounded.

And we're also getting reports of damage and fires across the capital city. Officials saying that some victims were rescued from the rubble, but still, operations are underway at this hour to rescue more. They're out of Kyiv, where it's coming up on 10 a.m. at this hour.

Joining us from Berlin is CNN's Sebastian Shukla. So, Seb, what are you hearing from our colleagues in Kyiv?

SEBASTIAN SHUKLA, CNN PRODUCER: Well, our colleagues in Kyiv, Paulo, are telling us and detailing to us about another devastating night of ballistic and cruise and drone missile attacks against the Ukrainian capital. What we are hearing from the mayor of Kyiv, Vitali Klitschko, is that at least 12 people have been killed and two dozen others have been wounded as targets, these various targets across the capital, including warehouses, residential buildings, and warehouses were targeted and have been hit against multiple locations across the city.

What the Russian Defense Ministry are saying complements what we are hearing now from Kyiv, which is saying that massive strikes using high-precision weapons against military facilities, warehouses, and logistics hubs were the targets for these attacks. And what President Zelenskyy is saying is that the Russian Ministry of Defense had been planning for this attack for quite some time. He said that they have used multiple different types of weapons, and one of those weapons will be ballistic missiles, which, as we have been seeing over the last little period of weeks and months, are becoming an increasing problem for Ukraine's air defenses.

And as our colleagues Nick Paton Walsh showed us earlier this week, the lack of Patriot missile interceptors that Ukraine has almost run out of is a key asset that they use to target these ballistic missiles fired by Russia, and without them it becomes very difficult to defend any targets and people against this Russian barrage and onslaught of these ballistic missiles.

They are so important, but they are in such finite supply because no other country in the world manufactures them, and licenses need to be procured in order to produce them. And the only way that the Ukrainians can get their hands on them at the moment is through intermediary partners, like European allies, who go to the U.S. and say, we've pooled this money, can we now send us the interceptors and we will transfer them to Ukraine.

But given the supply and the amount that they were used up in the Middle East, that supply is running low. As you can imagine, replenishment of stockpiles like this are very, very difficult and cumbersome and they take time to produce, so just clicking a finger and saying we want more doesn't always result in delivery. And the Europeans themselves know that they don't want to give up their own ballistic missile stockpiles either because they don't know when they will be replenished either.

It's a real balancing act here that Ukraine faces. And the Ukrainian President has been saying as well in the last few minutes that gas supply facilities and critical infrastructure has also been one of these targets.

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I know that we're only in mid-August though, Polo, but with a winter approaching and as I said, those long lead times to get these interceptors delivered, Ukraine is facing that creeping winter and the target that we have seen and tactic used by the Kremlin is to hit Ukraine's critical infrastructure, to cripple it, to turn the lights out, to turn the heating off and to really make life as miserable as possible.

I don't think it can be understressed the importance that Ukraine faces about finding replenishment for these Patriot missiles because otherwise they are going to face a very bleak winter and more mornings like we've seen today. Polo. SANDOVAL: And just to your point, Seb, I mean, those images, those

heartbreaking images that we're just seeing, just a fresh reminder of why we're hearing such urgency coming from the Ukrainian President. Sebastian Shukla, thank you so much for that reporting.

And President Trump now says that the U.S. will be putting more financial pressure on Iran. He took to social media on Wednesday night announcing, quote, "the most crushing economic operation ever taken against any country."

He did not, however, offer any details on what that will actually entail. But his comments do come as a deal to end the war remains at an impasse. And on the same day that he said that the situation with Iran was, quote, so good.

The President had this to say earlier about the possibility of restarting those diplomatic talks.

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DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: Maybe at some point, but right now, I think the situation is so good. But maybe at some point.

Look, it's very simple. They have to get rid of completely. They have to get rid of no nuclear weapons.

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SANDOVAL: Let's go live now to CNN's Paula Hancocks, who joins me from Abu Dhabi. So, Paula, how's President Trump framing this so-called economic pressure that he plans to put on Iran?

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Polo, he's calling it an economic D-Day, he posted on Truth Social on Wednesday evening, talking about this increased economic pressure and isolation that he wants to see. I'll read you part of it, quote, "I am announcing the most crushing economic operation ever taken against any country. This will be economic warfare and isolation on an unprecedented scale."

Now, he spoke of the dire straits the Iranian economy is already in. Currency is worthless. The country is hanging by a thread. It's worth pointing out, though, that this is a country that has been under crippling sanctions for well over 40 years.

And when we heard just a couple of weeks ago, the U.S. announcing fresh sanctions against individuals, exchange houses and companies in several countries that were alleged to be helping fuel this shadow banking system in Iran.

Iran's response was simply we have been under these sanctions before and we have not collapsed, it will not work. But what we're hearing from the Trump administration, we heard it from the Treasury Secretary just last week, saying that there will be measures, quote, "never been seen on Iran." So we're waiting to see exactly what will be different. He is saying, the President, that they will be focusing on other countries that are trying to help financially with the shadow banking system in Iran. But when you look at the countries that do have these great trading ties with Iran, China is the number one country.

So in theory, that would mean that Trump would have to take actions against China. And it will be interesting to see whether or not he is willing to do that.

Now, one of the other largest commercial partners with Iran was the UAE, and they announced just this week that they were halting all trade transactions or financial transactions with Iran until further notice. Now, they specified that was because of regional escalations.

We saw earlier this week a couple of missiles fired towards the Emirati coast. They fell in Emirati waters. But then just last week, we also saw two tankers that were struck or targeted, I should say, in the Strait of Hormuz.

So this could well be the reason that the UAE is halting all financial and trade transactions with Iran. That does have the potential to have a significant knock on impact.

Now, we have already had a response from Iran when it comes to Trump's economic D-Day. I'll read you the post that we've had from the Iranian foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi. He said, quote, "The so-called economic D-Day is a diversion from America's own crisis, unprecedented debt and surging interest costs."

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Referring there to the U.S. federal debt, which it was announced on Tuesday hit a record $40 trillion.

So at this point, it is up in the air as to what exactly the U.S. can do to further sanction Iran from what it has done in the past. But it does appear to be that they will be targeting other countries that are helping keep Iran afloat. Polo?

SANDOVAL: And more on that U.S. rising debt a little later in this hour, Paula Hancocks, thank you so much for that reporting from Abu Dhabi.

Now to a NATO official that's telling CNN that the military alliance is prepared to, quote, "address any threat following reports that Iran is considering attacking U.S. military targets in Europe if President Trump escalates the war." And that official also said that NATO will always do what is necessary to defend all allies and also pointed to four occasions earlier this year when NATO air defenses successfully intercepted ballistic missiles heading to Turkey originating from Iran.

And there's a new deadline for the U.S. and Canada to finalize a new trade deal. Negotiators meeting in Washington will have to work out the details before 12:01 a.m. on Saturday, and that's if they want to avoid new tariffs proposed by President Donald Trump. He has paused the 50 percent duties for now, saying that a deal had

been struck. But Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney says that though there is some work that's already happened, more needs to be done.

Joining me now is Michael Devereux from Vancouver. He's an economist and also a professor at the University of British Columbia. Professor, thank you so much for joining us and for staying up late for us.

MICHAEL DEVEREUX, ECONOMIST AND PROFESSOR, UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA: Thank you so much for having me.

SANDOVAL: So you just heard President Trump claims that a tentative deal has been struck. We're still trying to get more information about it, of course, especially if we get close to a signing. But at this point, based on what we do know, what is your assessment of this apparent tentative deal?

DEVEREUX: Well, we don't know all the details yet, but it looks like a deal has been struck to avoid these punishing 50 percent tariffs on about $20 billion worth of Canadian exports, which would be kind of a significant hit to the Canadian economy. The deal is going to require concessions from Canada. It's also going to require some benefits from the U.S.

What we know is that Canada is going to open up at least the strong conjecture is that Canada will open up its dairy industry somewhat. And also Canada will remove the boycott on U.S. alcohol, which has been kind of a major sticking point for the last year or so.

Many of the provinces in Canada removed U.S. beer and wine from their government liquor store shelves, and that's been a major irritant. So that will be a concession. The difficulty is that the Canadian government has to persuade the provinces to do that because that decision is the remit of each individual province and not the prime minister or the Canadian government itself.

SANDOVAL: Right. Yes, I'm interested in talking a bit more about that, the booze ban, but back to the dairy. Just to explain to our viewers why the U.S. has been particularly interested in securing more access to Canada's dairy exports.

DEVEREUX: Well, Canada has an unusual dairy policy called supply management, in which Canada puts on large tariffs on all imports of eggs, milk and cheese from the rest of the world. Now, in the original USMCA agreement of 2018, the dairy industry was opened up somewhat with some quotas that were offered to the U.S. in that agreement.

Now, the U.S. has been displeased with the way the quotas were allocated. A lot of the quotas were given, actually, to Canadian importers rather than the U.S. exporters, and that now the -- apparently the agreement now will open up more of the quotas.

Now, I have to say this, in fact, would be a win-win for both countries, because by allowing more imports of U.S. milk and dairy products would actually reduce the price and benefit to Canadian consumers. So lots of Canadians actually are on board with this concession, and so hopefully this will be helpful in getting the deal over the finishing line.

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SANDOVAL: And then, of course, the other potential concession is, as we mentioned, the ban, the provincial ban on America's alcohol. Just why has it become such a big sticking point in these negotiations, you think?

DEVEREUX: Well, I think because it was so kind of deliberate and complete, it wasn't as if we put tariffs on U.S. -- on imports of U.S. wine. It was like there was an infinite tariff. Canadian consumers could simply not buy U.S. wine or beer or U.S. alcohol.

And it was seen as a response to what Canadians perceived as very negative threats, not just the tariff threats, but threats to Canadian sovereignty and the kind of demeaning of the Canadian Prime Minister, calling the Canadian Prime Minister governor of the 51st state and so forth. So the Canadians and Canadian provinces were very aggrieved in the middle of 2025, and they took this policy.

Now, it was as a result, it was seen as a very negative slap in the face for a lot of the U.S. exporters from California and other states that produce a lot of wine. So it was something that just, it's so visible, it became a major irritant.

Now, it can easily be rescinded, and hopefully it will as part of this agreement, because in some sense it's just a symbolic gesture. You know, it's costly for Canadians not to be able to buy U.S. wine or beer. So I think that is likely to go.

But again, I say that this will have to get the agreement of the individual provincial premiers, so we'll see what happens before Friday. But things are looking quite optimistic, and hopefully this will go through. If not, this 50 percent tariffs would be very, very damaging to the Canadian economy because it deals with a substantial number of goods that were previously tariff-free under the USMCA.

So this would be a major break in the trading relationship. So avoiding this is a key priority for Canada.

SANDOVAL: Yes, perhaps even prolonging that uncertainty that's been injected into this trade relationship. But nonetheless, Professor, I know you'll be watching it very closely the next 48 hours. We will, too.

I appreciate your assessment, as always. Thank you.

DEVEREUX: Thank you very much. Thank you. Good night.

SANDOVAL: Still to come here on "CNN Newsroom," the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, they are reportedly eyeing a return to the U.K. But will they be welcomed with open arms? Well, more in a live report on return.

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SANDOVAL: As you might understand, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex are planning to return to the U.K. after living in the United States for about six years.

Prince Harry and his wife Meghan left Britain in 2020 after stepping back from their royal duties. They've lived in California ever since. The couple said that racism, tabloids, online abuse and complex family problems is what prompted the original move.

CNN's Nada Bashir joins me from Buckingham Palace as we continue to learn more. So, Nada, given the scandal that prompted some six years ago, I assume this doesn't necessarily mean a return to royal duties for the couple.

NADA BASHIR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, absolutely. This is not exactly a return to being working members of the royal family. That is something that CNN understands.

King Charles has made very clear the couple, along with their children, are expected to return to the United Kingdom later this month. They will be living in a private residence outside of London, so not taking up any of the royal residences available across the United Kingdom. And according to reports from the British newspaper "The Telegraph," it is expected that their two children, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet, will also be enrolling in British schools in September.

So this is looking like a long term move for the couple. And of course, this does follow visits by Prince Harry and, of course, the whole family earlier in July, where we did see them returning to the United Kingdom. It's understood meeting with the royal family here as well after, as you mentioned, of course, that quite controversial and dramatic decision to leave the United Kingdom and relocate to California in 2020.

And of course, since the very public falling out between Prince Harry and the Duchess of Sussex as well and their family here. But of course, this has taken the British tabloids by storm.

And we are seeing this on the front pages today, as you can see, "The Daily Telegraph" has the headline, "Harry's coming home." We've got it here on the "Daily Mail," "Harry and Meghan to move to U.K.," along with a picture of the couple and their daughter, Princess Lilibet, and again, Harry and Meg coming home.

Of course, this was a very dramatic departure for the couple. And as we've understood from Buckingham Palace, again, this is not a return to royal duties. They're not expected to be returning as working members of the royal family.

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But we have seen the Duke and Duchess of Sussex taking on various business ventures and charitable endeavors in the United States. It remains to be seen what those endeavors will continue to look like here in the United Kingdom, whether there'll be any new business ventures or projects. And of course, for Prince Harry, the very important Invictus Games, which he has long championed as well, Polo.

SANDOVAL: Nada Bashir, thank you so much for that live report from outside Buckingham Palace.

A tourist helicopter trip turns tragic as the aircraft goes down with seven people on board. Now, recovery crews are scouring the crash site in Kenya, as officials investigate what went wrong.

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SANDOVAL: Welcome back, I'm Polo Sandoval in New York, and these are today's top stories.

President Trump says that the U.S. will launch, quote, "the most crushing economic operation ever against Iran," but did not provide any further details. He did go on to say that any country that allows its businesses, airports, or government entities to provide a lifeline to Iran will also face major economic consequences.

And President Trump is also imposing his -- he's postponing his threat to impose 50 percent tariffs on Canada. Negotiators have until the end of the day Friday to finalize details on a new agreement. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney says that there's been a lot of progress, but there's still work to be done.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are planning to move back to the U.K., CNN understands. Prince Harry and Meghan have lived in the U.S. since leaving both Britain and their royal duties back in 2020. King Charles has made it clear that they will remain private individuals and not working members of the royal family.

Investigators are trying to figure out what went wrong during a failed helicopter crash that killed seven people in Kenya. Officials say Ecuador's top intelligence chief and his wife were among the victims, and the rest were Americans, including an executive with Spanish- language broadcaster Telemundo.

For more on the investigation, we go now live to Larry Madowo, who joins me from Nairobi. So what are investigators saying about this awful accident?

All right, we're going to try to see if we can get Larry back again to get the latest on this tragedy in Kenya with several individuals killed in that accident on Wednesday.

Now to the U.S. national debt. It has crossed an eye-popping new threshold. What's behind this $40 trillion price tag, and just how much the government is paying in interest? We're going to break down the numbers, and we'll return.

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SANDOVAL; Hey, welcome back, here are your business headlines.

The U.S. national debt has hit a staggering new milestone. The Treasury Department says that it now tops $40 trillion. Tax cuts, government spending, and interest payments of $1 trillion a year are all contributing to this rapid increase.

President Trump says that he's not concerned about the recent sell-off in the bond market. The U.S. Treasury has stepped in to calm the market and address a relentless rise in borrowing costs. On Tuesday, the 30-year yield hit its highest level in nearly two decades.

A former Meta employee testified in court that under Mark Zuckerberg's leadership, growth and engagements were often prioritized over child safety. 29 states are currently suing the social media giant, alleging that Meta intentionally designed its platform to get young people addicted. Meta has denied those allegations.

All right, back to one of the other stories that we're closely following. Investigators are trying to figure out what went wrong during a fatal helicopter crash that killed seven people in Kenya.

For more now, let's go to Larry Madowo, who joins me from Nairobi. So, Larry, what are investigators saying about this crash?

LARRY MADOWO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: One of the theories here, Polo, is mechanical failure. It's too early. This accident happened yesterday.

They have not even retrieved all the bodies from the wreckage of this crash, so it's very early in this investigation, but they're considering mechanical failure as one of the possible causes of the crash. Obviously, in these sorts of situations, the other one is pilot error that could have played a part in it.

But the pilot in this case, Josh Outram, was highly experienced. He had more than 15 years flying in these remote parts of northern Kenya, beautiful scenic parts of the country, some of which are only accessible by air because there are no roads there. There are huge wildlife conservancies with beautiful sweeping views of this part of the country.

There were five Americans on this aircraft, six tourists in total. Two of them, one was the intelligence chief in Ecuador, Michel Sensi- Contugi, and his wife, Stephany Holihan. There was also a Spanish- language executive from the Florida area, Jose Suarez, who was on this aircraft from Telemundo.

We have -- we believe, other friends of theirs from the South Florida area who were also tourists in this helicopter that was flying in Samburu, that's the northern part of Kenya.

It appeared to be attempting to land on a cliff edge on the top of Mount Ololokwe, where sometimes tourists go there for breakfast. It's such a beautiful part of the country, and many tourists love to go here.

And, again, this was a luxury tourist expedition, so the very best available for them. Unfortunately, it ended in tragedy. Four of the bodies have been retrieved, flown here to Nairobi, they're expecting autopsies to take place tomorrow.

Right now, a multi-agency team investigates back on the scene, trying to extricate the remains of two of the people who were in this aircraft.

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Part of the problem is that this area is extremely remote. Getting to it has been difficult. And then, as soon as it landed, a fire broke out, and into evening, it was still burning.

Some of the bodies are quite charred, unfortunately, according to police and people who are on the scene. So the delicate work of trying to remove the remains of these two other people continues this morning. We're expecting another update from authorities as an investigation has been launched, Polo.

SANDOVAL: Yes, it's just awful when you see parts of the helicopter there scattering along the cliffside. Larry Madowo, thank you so much for that report.

Now to a potential breakthrough in cancer treatments. Moderna and Merck now saying that a personalized mRNA vaccine combined with immunotherapy, Keytruda, succeeded in a late-stage trial for melanoma. The vaccine is based on the same technology behind those COVID-19 vaccines.

And the study is ongoing, but so far, results have shown that the treatment prevented cancer from either returning or spreading among high-risk melanoma patients.

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DR. JONATHAN REINER, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: They take the mRNA that codes for those mutations in the patient's actual tumor, and they give that back to the patient, and the patient makes antibodies to their own tumors. This is a customized, personalized vaccine to treat your own tumor.

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SANDOVAL: Melanoma is the deadliest form of skin cancer. It affects more than 1.5 million people in the U.S., that's according to the National Cancer Institute. Moderna and Merck say that they plan to file for approval from regulators within months and the announcement sent Moderna shares soaring as much as 160 percent. So this news hopefully offering some hope to so many people battling

their cancer.

Washington, D.C. and IndyCar, they are getting ready for the Freedom 250 Grand Prix. It is day two -- it's actually a two-day motorsports event that's culminating with the first-ever race around the National Mall. The event was created after President Trump signed an executive order in January directing the Transportation and Interior Departments to design a race through the district's streets to celebrate the nation's 250th anniversary.

Well the track is 1.7 miles long and goes past some of America's most historic landmarks, sites and institutions. That race is scheduled for Sunday.

And you absolutely have to see this next video showing two runaway goats walking onto a public bus in Portland, Oregon. And this is after one set of doors closes. The goats then rush to make it and before it's too late, of course they've got places to go.

Here's a closer look at them getting aboard that bus.

The human passengers didn't seem too thrilled and chased the goats off the bus before it took off. A transit agency saying that the goats made it home safely and that their owner has now fixed their enclosure.

A free ride on the bus. Thanks so much for watching. "World Sport" is next and I'll see you in 15 minutes.

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